CARE home patients in Warrington are avoiding hospital stays thanks to the work of community-based healthcare teams.
The community based teams, supporting nursing and residential care homes, have markedly reduced the number of patients from residential and care homes being admitted to hospital over the past year, pushing down costs for the local NHS.
Professionals from Warrington Community Services Unit (CSU), including community nurses, palliative care specialists and intravenous therapy specialists, work together with GPs and hospital staff to discharge patients as safely and quickly as possible or prevent them from being admitted to hospital at all.
As a result, A&E attendances from nursing or residential homes in 2009/10 have been reduced by almost 20 per cent compared to 2008/09.
Similarly, emergency admissions from nursing or residential homes in 2009/10 have been reduced by almost 22 per cent compared to 2008/09. Even when taking into account the overall cost of running the services, these reductions work out at a huge saving of more than £347,000 for the local NHS.
When patients do need to be admitted in an emergency, the number of days they have to stay in hospital has fallen by almost 48 per cent in 2009/10 compared to 2008/09. The work of the community based teams, alongside hospital staff, has contributed to this reduction in bed days.
Mel Wilson, assistant director of Adult Services for the CSU, said: “Community services have significantly improved support so that patients in care homes who become ill do not necessarily need to be admitted to hospital, but can stay in their care home where they are much more comfortable.
“In a community setting such as a residential care home, patients can be closer to their family, and shorter hospital stays reduce the risk of hospital acquired infections. Through the hard work of our staff we have reduced pressure on hospital beds, freeing up space for patients who need hospital services and creating a considerable cost saving for the NHS locally.”
CARE home patients in Warrington are avoiding hospital stays thanks to
the work of community-based healthcare teams.
£347,000 savings for local NHS
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
2 Comments
These “Savings” are mean absolutely nothing. They are the similar to the “Efficiency savings ” seen in the latest council tax bill. Where they say that they have saved x amount yet still put up your taxes, even though in theory they should come down.
These savings have been generated by the efficient use of NHS services, no jobs have been lost due to these savings, people are recieving appropriate and effective care in their own homes as opposed to being admitted to hospital. I work closely with many of the teams involved in delivering these improvements in Community services and am very pleased to see the financial benefits of the changes in the way services are delivered.